Alpine F1 Boss Reveals Why They ‘Did Not Expect Miracles’ from Fernando Alonso & Esteban Ocon

Alpine haven’t gotten off to the start they wanted in the 2021 season. The French team struggled in the first two races of the year. Executive director, Marcin Budkowski, has stated that they were well aware of their performance in pre-season testing itself.

The opening race of the season didn’t go Alpine’s way, as Fernando Alonso had to retire from the race due to brake issues. His French teammate, Esteban Ocon, came 13th, so the team went empty-handed that weekend.

In race two of the season, at Imola, the French squad did manage to bring home some points. As Alonso crossed the line in 10th place and Ocon came 9th. The team would like to improve and score more championship points as the season progresses.

Alpine director could foresee the team’s performance in testing

As quoted by Marçà, Bukowski said, “When we got to the preseason tests, we knew we were experiencing ‘headwinds’ during the winter with the change in regulation, but we also found some issues in the wind tunnel that slowed us down in terms of development.” (Quotes translated from Spanish using Google)

We knew we wouldn’t have the best winter possible. Therefore, we did not expect miracles. We expected to be on the defensive in terms of pace and the tests confirmed it.” he explained.

Ocon looks forward to teammate battles with Alonso

This past weekend at Imola, we saw some exciting racing by the drivers. Particularly, the battle between the two Alpine drivers, Ocon came 9th ahead of his Spanish teammate, Alonso. Consequently, Ocon has stated he looks forward to their upcoming fights on the track.

Speaking after the Emila GP, Ocon said, “We had good fights together with Fernando it was good fun. I feel like there was potentially more on the table today; the pace was good inside the Top 10.”

“We could probably have done P7, P8, get in that group, but you know that’s how it is today. We get the reward with one point and will get more with the next one,” Ocon concluded.

The French-based outfit would look towards the upcoming race at Portugal for the third round of the season. Alonso and Ocon will aim to score some more points for their team. What did you think of Alpine’s performance at Imola? Let us know in the comments below.

Read More: ‘A Little Bit Odd’ – Fernando Alonso on Being Alpine F1’s “Godfather”

The post Alpine F1 Boss Reveals Why They ‘Did Not Expect Miracles’ from Fernando Alonso & Esteban Ocon appeared first on EssentiallySports.